Communicative Language Teaching ( CLT)

What is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

CLT is an approach to language teaching ( Richards & Rodgers). It is based on the theory that the primary function of the language use is communication. The main goal is to develop learner’s communicative competence and communicative ability. In this approach students are given task to accomplish by guiding the language instead of studying the language.

Communicative competence includes the following aspects of language knowledge (C.Richards, 2006):

ô  Knowing how to use language for a range of different purposes and functions

ô  Knowing how to vary our use of language according to the setting and the participants (e.g., knowing when to use formal and informal speech or when to use language appropriately for written as opposed to spoken communication)

ô  Knowing how to produce and understand different types of texts (e.g., narratives, reports, interviews, conversations)

ô  Knowing how to maintain communication despite having limitations in one’s language knowledge (e.g., through using different kinds of communication strategies)

The principles of CLT

• .       Activities that involve real communication promote learning.
• .       The task principle: Activities in which language is used to carry out meaningful tasks promote learning.
• .       The meaningfulness principle: Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process.

Learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become comfortable with listening to their peers in group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model. They were expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning. And teachers now had to assume the role of facilitator and monitor. Rather than being a model for correct speech and writing and one with the primary responsibility of making students produce plenty of error-free sentences, the teacher had to develop a different view of learners’ errors and of her/his own role in facilitating language learning.

There is this interesting article which talks about the communicative language teaching today. In this article, they will explore the assumptions of CLT, its origins and evolution since it was first proposed in the 1970s, and how it has influenced approaches to language teaching today. Since its inception in

the 1970s, CLT has served as a major source of influence on language teaching practice around the world. Many of the issues raised by a communicative teaching methodology are still relevant today, though teachers who are relatively new to the profession may not be familiar with them. This booklet therefore serves to review what we have learned from CLT and what its relevance is today. 

The link is show below: http://www.cambridge.org/other_files/downloads/esl/booklets/Richards-Communicative-Language.pdf

Advantages

•           Students get more practice speaking the language
•            The classes present situations which the student may encounter in real life
•           Increased fluency
•           Students have increased confidence when interacting in the language 

Disadvantages

• Not suitable for large classrooms
•  Students and teachers must be able to understand each other
• The weaker learners who struggle and cannot use the target language and continue to make mistake, they tend to give up. 
• CLT approach only focus on fluency not accuracy
•  CLT approach will be suitable for intermediate and advanced leaners. Whereas for beginners, some controlled practice in needed
•  The work load on teacher increases

Personal view

As a future teacher, this method may work quite well for socially active people who do not like to study grammar and vocabulary or who may find grammar and linguistic concepts too difficult. I think this method may be quite good for teaching pre-adolescent children, because, unlike adults, children actually are still able to learn a new language similarly to the way they learned their first language. Plus, children lack the mental capacity to grasp grammar concepts that we, as adults, are able to use to speak and write correctly in a new language. However, People social anxiety or shyness will never be able to learn the language in a CLT classroom; they may not want to turn up for the class. In some situations, teachers tend to neglect grammar in CLT classroom because they think that CLT is about speaking with peers which is not true. If teachers can focus on teaching a student the grammar and vocabulary of the language, you teach that student how to use the language in every situation imaginable. They can give the student the foundation tools to write poetry in that language, a love letter, a business letter, a dissertation, to improvise a speech, to ask for help in any situation, to participate in spontaneous conversations, to express any thought or feeling he or she may want to express.

References

ô  C.Richards, J. (2006). communicative language teaching today. Cambridge.org. Retrieved 20 December 2014, from http://www.cambridge.org/other_files/downloads/esl/booklets/Richards-Communicative-Language.pdf